A Fast From Enthusiasm

by David Haberstock

Are you worn out? Life is so taxing these days. Never enough hours in the day. Never enough energy to face the evils around us. And yet, you are supposed to be happy, successful, living your best life now. I just don’t have the energy for it all, nor the enthusiasm. 

Enthusiasm is a funny word. It comes from a Greek word which means “being possessed by a god” and was originally used to refer to religious passions. Being enthusiastic these days is viewed as an extremely good thing. It’s viewed as being authentic, or passionate, or really serious about something. We’ve all experienced how discussion and decision making in groups often boils down to whomever is most enthusiastic, passionate, angry, or offended about the topic at hand.

When you get into those sorts of discussions where someone is extremely intense about something, most of us back off. We don’t want to cause a scene, or we tell ourselves we just aren’t as invested in it as others seem to be. But there have been many a moment where you’ve backed off only to have your conscience let you know it was uneasy—through the pain in your neck, perhaps, or the disquiet of your stomach. And there are times when that physical unease then leads us to blow our stacks when we see that person later. In such moments our own enthusiasm, or that of the person who got hot under the collar in a meeting, can seem like some sort of possession that takes over. 

Spiritual enthusiasm is claiming to be a Christian apart from the Word of God. Enthusiasm dethrones God and His Word as the ultimate authority in matters of faith and conscience…

Martin Luther used the word “enthusiast” to refer to those who “boast they have the Spirit without and before the Word” (SA III.VIII.3). Spiritual enthusiasm is claiming to be a Christian apart from the Word of God. Enthusiasm dethrones God and His Word as the ultimate authority in matters of faith and conscience and sets up logic, tradition, emotions, or some specific person—perhaps yourself, perhaps the Pope—as the ultimate authority who interprets God’s Word to you. Or, as Luther said, “they judge Scripture or the spoken Word and explain and stretch it at their pleasure.”

This is an important concept today. In a day where objective standards of truth are being hurled down, enthusiasm runs amuck. And it has an impact everywhere in our society. Whoever is most emotional about a topic usually wins the day in our public discourse. And it means that emotion or personal experience trumps the clear Word of God in the hearts of many people—even within our own congregations.

The Small Catechism encourages fasting by saying, “Fasting and bodily preparation are certain fine outward training.” It continues, “But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’” It is never your own feelings, notions, or outward actions that give you faith and make you worthy to receive Jesus, but rather the Word of God which creates faith in you makes you worthy of Him. 

Fasting is good. Fasting resets the default settings of your body. It is a good thing to do for the sake of discipline from time to time. If you find that you are a bit of an enthusiast in any area of your life—not submitting yourself to God’s Word as the ultimate authority—give it a break, fast from it, and let Scripture reset your spiritual defaults. 

Not, that is, fasting from emotion but instead from letting your emotions run away with you or be an authority higher than God and His Word.

But how does one fast from emotionalism or enthusiasm? Not, that is, fasting from emotion but instead from letting your emotions run away with you or be an authority higher than God and His Word. You fast from it first by confessing to your Lord—or if it really bothers you, in front of your pastor—that you have used some authority other than His Word to settle things in your life. Then, the fast continues by hearing the Word of forgiveness (absolution) and feasting yourself on the Word. This happens in Divine Service, in the Sacrament, and in study of the Bible, both individually and with your pastor. 

In order to make a good fast from enthusiasm, reading the Book of Concord in conjunction with reading the Bible is also encouraged. But either way, let the Lord be God. Let Him tell you His Word and His ways. Let Him have the last word and not your enthusiasm, whatever it may be. 

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Rev. David Haberstock is Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)’s Central Regional Pastor.

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